Straight talk or hot air?
The University of New England issued new guidelines on May 23 which encourage students and staff to avoid the use, orally or in writing, of terms which are sexist, racist or offensive to people with disabilities.
The guidelines, called Straight Talk, were released by the university's equal employment opportunity office and provide comprehensive arguments for avoiding certain words, as well as a host of suggested alternatives to language which may be considered offensive.
The guidelines are sensitive to the issue of preference, allowing, for example, that while "Ms" is the preferred title to be used for women when "Mr" is used for men, some women may prefer an alternative. This choice is to be respected, they point out.
The guidelines have received the approval of the federal race discrimination commissioner, Zita Antonios.
When the guidelines were released, however, a generalised media brouhaha erupted, with some university personnel being quoted as saying they were altogether too restrictive and would generate a backlash of resentment, thus rendering them worse than useless.
The introduction of guidelines on the use of language is one aspect of a systematic approach to change on the level of internal policy and procedure, which is much further advanced in the public sector than the private. Attempts to set parameters on the use of language complement sexual harassment procedures, guidelines for appropriate behaviour at the workplace and affirmative action policies, for example.
All of these together constitute a wealth of measures designed to highlight the inappropriateness of discriminatory attitudes, and to encourage alternatives. However, on their own they are still not enough.
Often such guidelines and policies are launched outside the context of a far-reaching educational campaign on the broader issues. Language, as is pointed out in the introduction to Straight Talk, "both shapes and reflects social reality". This social reality consists of a plethora of concrete manifestations of racism, sexism and discrimination which also must be combated.
These kind of guidelines and policies could be much more useful, could achieve a lot more if they retained a connection with their origins — the anger, frustration and will to act experienced by women, blacks or other people involved in action against injustice. It is through involvement in such campaigns that people's awareness about the need to change society as a whole — which includes the issue of language — can really be raised. Through concrete involvement and experience of day to day struggles, talking about oppression becomes real.
These kinds of campaigns are needed in conjunction with Straight Talk, and other initiatives of its kind: public forums, awareness-raising sessions, debates and so on. Otherwise all that talk may become just more hot air.
By Kath Gelber